Tools for participatory reseach

There are varying degrees to which a research approach can directly contribute to the work of community groups ( for more on this, see also A spectrum of research methodologies ). Participatory methods in research and in the communication of research results can be helpful for increasing the utility of research to those concerned.

Below we describe a selection of popular education and participatory research methods together. This is because participatory research and popular education go hand in hand – sharing a similar philosophy and many methods. A popular education approach in research is one in which the researcher is a committed participant in a process oriented towards action with the people involved (i.e. it is not just for acquiring research data).

Popular Education

Popular education is an approach to teaching and research that has been used by many grassroots social movements since the 1960s. It is linked to alternative ideas about “development” (e.g. against imposed development projects) and participatory democracy.

Popular education:

- Is based on experiences of participants and sharing of different types of knowledge (e.g. traditional, local, practitioner, academic)
- Promotes learning that is participatory and collective
- Uses creative, expressive and culturally-relevant educational tools
- Promotes critical analysis through group discussion
- Is based on “problem-posing dialogue” and a dialectic between local experience and structural causes to problems
- Combines theory and practice
- Activities allow learning through different senses
- Is based on a political view of “participation”, rather than an instrumental one
- Is intended to lead to collective action

There are many resource centres, books and manuals about popular education and participatory action research, describing the philosophy and suggesting methods and activities. Some of these are listed in our Links and Documents and publications.

Some commonly used spaces

Workshops are events in which a group of people can learn together and share experiences. In popular education, learning is collective and based on praxis—the joining of knowledge and action. Learning is not just reception of new information from one source, but ideally a horizontal exchange. Thus, workshops are also important for participatory research.

Forums are generally large events, which may include speakers, panels and workshops, in order to learn about the different experiences of participants on key issues, debate and jointly organize. For example: the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and parallel forums in other countries.

Popular education and participatory research do not only occur in more formal events such as workshops or forums. Meetings, visits and conversations are the real creators of the relationships and friendships on which mutual understanding and cooperation are based.

Workshop activities

Workshop activities (referred to as dinámicas in Spanish) are as varied as there are situations and as unlimited as creativity allows. In popular education, what is important is that learning is based on or relates to participant’s experiences, is collective and is oriented towards social change. It requires allowing room for participants’ freedom of expression, experience, diversity, culture and spontaneity.

In brainstorming, writing down people’s ideas where everyone can see (e.g. flip-chart or blackboard) can be important for doing analysis in a group, and for striving for consensus on issues if necessary.

Group interviews are a great way of doing participatory research in workshops. For example: A large group can be separated into smaller working groups to discuss and answer a series of interview-style questions. The results are then presented to the plenary by each group.

Group lectures can be used to read and discuss texts in both workshops and classrooms. Division of a large group into small groups usually results in greater ease for people to discuss their ideas.

Games can be fun tools for learning and participatory research, and can be borrowed, adapted or invented. Some examples include:
- Board game to identify waste problems in a community (such as the “Ecojuego”);
- Rallies to identify local plants and traditional uses in a community;
- Putting together a drawing or image which has symbols representing local problems and solutions.
- Any idea can be the seed for a game-just add creativity!

Learning through practice is important for learning (“hands-on”) techniques. However, a true “popular education” cannot be only technical. For example, popular education about organic farming is often accompanied by analysis of food production systems.

Socio-dramas, the creation of improvised sketches, are an excellent tool for collectively analyzing a conflictive situation. Participants of a workshop, divided into smaller groups, are asked to prepare a theatrical representation of a situation at issue and volunteer as actors to present it to the others. Socio-dramas are usually very lively and can generate important discussion afterwards. Role-playing is similar, but roles can be assigned. (See also popular theatre below)

Social mapping is the generation of maps describing geographical, ecological, economic, social and other features or problems of local importance, done collectively. Maps can be useful for identifying regional and global links to local phenomena, and to inform solutions.

Forms of communication

Forms of communication—publications, videos, radio programs, theatre, art—can help community groups disseminate information in accessible formats, and also serve to guide a research process. In other words, creating a mural, or booklet, or documentary, is as much a tool for analysis as the end product is for communication.

Community radio is an effective medium for communicating research results and for outreach.

Booklets can summarize the results of a participatory research process.

Comic strips can educate about difficult subjects in a friendly manner.

Calendars can be used to visually represent (through photography and some text) the work of organizations, while also potentially generating some funds through sales.

The creation of documentaries is a powerful research and communication medium.

Popular theatre is the carrying out of theatre or skits, usually in public places, with the aim of generating critical understanding of an issue.

Public art displays (example, murals) can help promote the knowledge and valorization of local history and talent, energize community cooperation and communicate messages.

The picture-novel or fotonovela (in spanish) is both a participatory research tool and a means of systematizing research findings in an accessible manner. The word fotonovela means picture-novel, an illustrated story. Community members, engaged in a participatory research process can utilize this method to systematize their experience and share their research findings. More information on a fotonovela

Beatriz Oliver and Gisela Frias
2004

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